Erik Ten Hag revealed why he refused bring on Ronaldo and introduced Martial to grab two goals instead of the five times Ballon d’Or winner
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has unbelievably admitted that he did not remove Cristiano Ronaldo from the bench during Sunday’s Manchester derby “out of respect for his great career”.
United suffered a humiliating 6-3 defeat at the Etihad against their arch-rivals.
The home side took a 4-0 lead into half-time by crushing the Ten Hag team in the first 45 minutes.
Manchester United were a little more effective in the second half as City lifted their foot off the gas and brought players off the wing.
But the game ended 6-3, with Erling Haaland and Phil Foden scoring three goals.
Ronaldo was back on the bench for the fifth consecutive Premier League game.
But despite the game moving away from United, Ten Hag surprisingly decided not to call on the 37-year-old.
Ten Hag revealed, perhaps unwisely, that he did not call Ronaldo out of respect for his career.
What did Ten Hag say?
“I didn’t call him out of respect for Cristiano and his great career,” Ten Hag said after the game.
“The other reason is the advantage I had in bringing Anthony Martial off, who needed those minutes, but I don’t want to stress it like that.”
Ten Hag’s comments again suggest special treatment for Ronaldo compared to other Man Utd players, something the club has criticised since the Portuguese’s return a year ago.
Martial still scored two goals as a substitute, including a penalty which he won himself.
